Pono music store closing temporarily...

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by SKBubba, Jul 19, 2016.

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  1. Madness

    Madness "Hate is much too great a burden to bear."

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    Great news for those of us who use the Pono ecosystem, from Neil Young:

    "Hello Pono Music lovers!

    The PonoPromise is our gift to you, all of you. It was originally for our Kickstarter backers, (that seems like a long time ago) but it is now for everyone who purchases music from Pono. I apologize for some confusion in our messaging. There is no time limit. In fact, I hope someday my son will be fulfilling the PonoPromise!

    This is it:

    If you buy music from Pono and that music is subsequently upgraded by a record company or artist, Pono gives you the upgrade free. You will never buy a song twice from Pono. The PonoPromise is for anyone who has ever bought any album from Pono, regardless of date of purchase.

    Thanks for standing with us for highest quality audio.

    Forever Pono!
    Neil Young
    Pono"
     
    fluffskul likes this.
  2. conjotter

    conjotter Forum Resident

  3. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    vanye and crispi like this.
  4. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    The site keeps insisting that it will be back up "soon." Personally, I'm quite frustrated because there's music I wish to buy and own, but I do not except under very very limited circumstances* buy lossy music. Pono at least seemed to offer redbook versions at fair prices.
     
    sallymae_hogsby likes this.
  5. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    Oops. I meant to explain the asterisk and forgot to do so. I do not under any circumstances buy lossy music for my personal listening library. I do occasionally (and reluctantly) buy it when I have to learn a song for a band project. I keep a whole other music library for that stuff.
     
  6. Rasputin

    Rasputin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    From july. :D
     
  7. RoyalScam

    RoyalScam Luckless Pedestrian

    I'm betting they're done. They've certainly lost what little momentum they had in this downtime.
     
  8. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    said Dr. Seuss
     
  9. RoyalScam

    RoyalScam Luckless Pedestrian

  10. Jeff Edwards

    Jeff Edwards Senior Member

    Much of Neil Young's music is also on Amazon Music Unlimited and a fair amount is also now on Amazon Prime Music.
     
  11. RoyalScam

    RoyalScam Luckless Pedestrian

    Yep. Good old lossy Amazon Music...
     
    Atmospheric likes this.
  12. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    I'll just go back to buying CDs.
     
  13. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    Crazy, huh?
     
  14. Joseph.McClure

    Joseph.McClure Forum Resident

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    Is Pono out of business?
     
  15. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Yeah. I'll just have to be careful about buying used ones as I've had a lot of problems. But I wish they would get with the program and release the 16 or 24-bit lossless files instead of still selling CDs or MP3/AAC files. Not that AAC sounds bad, but if I'm paying money for it...


    No. The Pono Store is temporarily closed and for a long time it has said they are switching music providers.
     
  16. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    Jeebus - 5 months temporary closure? Sounds like Pono is no more. No business could cope with that much time with product being unavailable.
     
  17. 360-12

    360-12 Forum Resident

    Just a bit of an exaggeration. Pono shut down on July 20th.
     
  18. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    4 months, sorry. I don't know how any business could survive that.
     
  19. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Whether Pono reopens depends on whether Neil refuses to listen to his financial advisers. I am sure they are telling him to let it go.
     
  20. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    I think it's worth noting that the Pono store is not very expensive to operate. The capital has already been invested. It has probably cost almost nothing to idle because Pono doesn't owe any licensing fees until a purchase is made.
     
  21. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous

    I wouldn't be surprised if Neil rebranded it. I'm sure it hasn't help their sales, that the first articles that come up on Google when you search "PONO" are:

    "Don't buy what Neil Young is Selling" and "Pono Player review: A tall, refreshing drink of snake oil".
     
  22. Time Is On My Side

    Time Is On My Side Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    I feel like people should also hear the other side of the story - that the hardware makes a difference, and that the 24-bit files can make a difference if they are mastered better than something like the iTunes download or the CD.
     
    paulisdead and jhm like this.
  23. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous

    The Pono player was a high end portable player, priced as a high end player but marketed for the masses - that's where they failed. It would have been no different to marketing any high end product (whether it be a luxury car or fashion or hi-fi) to a general audience.
     
  24. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    FYI. From PonoMusic's Facebook feed on Friday 11/18/16:

    A note from PonoMusic COO Phil Baker

    To all of our Pono supporters and community members,

    We understand the concerns that you are voicing, but not responding is not meant to be disrespectful.

    It’s frustrating to us as well to read your messages and not be able to give you more information. We are all here working hard to build on the work that we began together.

    We continue to work at recovering from the closure of Omnifone and looking at additional products. It’s been a lot harder than anticipated.

    We are a small company with limited resources, and our vision of what we want to do has always exceeded what we could afford to do, beginning with the development of the Pono player.

    As those that have worked in startups know, uncertainty is a way of life. We continue to be optimistic about the future of Pono and are planning for some exciting things. But startups need a continuing stream of capital, and that determines what we can do and how fast we can do it. We will communicate about future activities when we know there’s a good chance of succeeding.

    Lastly, no one should read anything into where Neil’s music is appearing and in what formats as anything to do with Pono. It is not. It’s simply addressing the need to meet the demands of the market.

    - Phil

    www.ponomusic.com #Pono #PonoIsForMusicLovers
     
    bmoregnr likes this.
  25. RoyalScam

    RoyalScam Luckless Pedestrian

    Mmm hmmm...
     
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